Revenant
by Acid Rain
Summary: rev·e·nant n. 1 One that returns after a lengthy absence. 2 One who returns after death.
1. Default Chapter

Don't own the boys. Not making any profit other than reviews. Hints of Yaoi and language appropriate to teenaged soldiers, but over all, this chapter is pretty tame. This fic has actually been written by four Yaoimongers: Acid Rain, Pixie518, Xineko and RaceUlfson. Many thanks to Xineko all her hard work beta-ing!

Revenant

Chapter One: Seifer

Okay, so I hate to fish.

I lived my whole life -such as it was- near the ocean. Fishing is long periods of sitting on your can and then it's all stink, slime, and sea gulls. But, I gave it a shot like I promised my posse I would

I had to get out of there before Fuu permanently maimed Raij trying to cheer me up.

After all of about 12 seconds spent considering my major lack of options, then a few days traveling and dodging people who did not seem to hold my dear self in high esteem, I was back at Balamb Garden.

I waited until dark and snuck in past the meager security; I wasn't the head of the Discipline Committee for nothing. Squall only glanced up from whatever paperwork his midnight oil was burning to say, "You're late."

I expected a little more, but he considered that enough said, and he's the Boss. That only rankled quite a lot. I shouldn't complain: Squall is a great boss, mainly because he doesn't give two shits about what you do as long as the goal is achieved without major lawsuits. For the record, the noodle factory fiasco was _Selphie_, not me.

So there I was back at Garden, fitting in like I'd never left. Okay, there were a few who were assholes about it. Zell was a mite offended, I think, that Squall made me a SeeD in the same ceremony he promoted Irvine, since I was technically on what Dincht considered to be the wrong side in the war. _Irvine _didn't mind. He was getting laid so regularly once he donned that uniform he could barely walk. And there's one in every crowd, you know, who can't let go of the past. I contented myself with flipping Xu off behind her back every chance I got, and smiling a lot.

Except for Kinneas, who had the very time consuming hobby of seducing every single and interested person in the Garden and surround areas, we all needed jobs to keep us occupied between mercenary incursions. I went with my forte, being an asshole, and ended up in charge of Discipline again. My favorite punishment was to force the little recreants to run laps. Yes, I ran with them. Yes, I ran rings around them, and yes, I was junctioned for stamina and no, they never figured it out. Respect may be something you have to earn, but there's no point in starting on the ground floor

The public may not have fully understood what the Second Sorceress War was about or what exactly we were fighting for, but they grasped onto Garden pretty tight. Consequentially, the Gardens became really popular: everyone wants his kid to go to the famous school and become a hero.

Balamb Garden was a little overcrowded, and frankly, a lot of the whiners were getting on my second to last nerve. My last nerve is the one that pulls Hyperion and restores order in the classroom.

I got a summons from Squall as I was sneering at my little captives in detention. I left the little nerdy one in charge, knowing I could review the security feed and kick ass later.

From my vantage point on the mezzanine before the broad slope of stairs, I watched Dincht duck and dive around clusters of bodies as he tore through the crowded corridor. No wonder he junctions for agility. Kinneas just sort of glided along the tiles towards the elevator from the opposite direction, bestowing his fuckme smile on anyone who rated over a 4 on the looks scale. Zell snap kicked the call button as they converged at the elevator and then settled into waiting, Dincht style: bounce bounce punch kick bounce.

"I could go out the window and climb up faster," I heard him grouse to Irvine.

"What's the hurry?" The longhaired Galbadian crossed his ankles and lolled back to observe the dating potentials in the herd of students that streamed past.

"Well... I dunno, but it must be important; all my classes are cancelled. I wanna to know what's up." Zell punched the air again. "I _hate_ waiting."

Timing it so I arrived exactly as the elevator dinged and opened, I sauntered into their midst, "You guys can leave, I'm here now."

Zell glared and bristled to his full stature, all 5 feet 5 inches of furious chicken, "Squall called for _all _of us."

Irvine, who was hatless today, moseyed into the lift, slouched against the wall and casually fingercombed his flowing tresses. His attentions didn't make it appear any tidier, but it did look sexier, which was the point.

"Hmm," I agreed with Zell while I watched Kinneas preen. "Maybe Squall needs furniture moved."

The man in question was at his desk, sipping cold coffee. Rinoa had decorated his office in shades of blue and black and white, with framed diagrams of gunblade modifications on the walls, proving not even she could be bad at _everything_. Zell had drawn a clever little doodle of Shiva with her hands on her hips, bitching: '_Why is always so damned cold around here?_' It occupied the spot on Squall's desk that once held Rinoa's picture.

"So what's up?" Irvine settled himself on the corner of Squall's desk and purred, "Interviewing for a new bedslave?"

"Don't get your hopes up, Cowgirl," I cut in, noticing that it was Zell who blushed, not our Fearless Leader. "Maybe he just wants us to move his couch." I got a bounce bounce punch for that one.

Irvine shrugged. "Worth a shot."

"Do to the influx of new students, we've opened up the unused floors in the dorm wing."

Squall sure knew how to grab my attention right away. "The kids in level 2 have been complaining ever since."

Forcing myself to relax, I said, "Buncha whiney babies. I'd be more surprised if they weren't." Attitude is better camouflage than olivedrab blotches any day.

"First time away from home jitters," Zell said, but slowly because he hates it when I'm right and even more when he has to admit it by agreeing with me.

"Give them a stuffed mog and a picture of Momma," Irvine advised.

Used us and our bullshit, Squall continued, "They report hearing weird noises –"

"Sure that's not coming from Kinneas' room?" I said. Irvine flashed me his toe-curling smile. Good thing I'm immune to it. And that my pants are baggy.

"– accompanied by funny smells." Squall ignored me, so typical.

"Ahh, see, and Dincht's room is right next door." Zell shot me a look I'll treasure. They aren't as good as Squall's glares, but it did have more teeth.

Squall set down his folder and looked up. "Xu thinks the area is haunted." We all stared at him. "Vengeful ghosts."

"What, they ate the Tuna Surprise at the Cafeteria and are out to get even?" Irvine shook his head.

Squall shrugged. "She did some research and found that a worker was killed in one of the closed off dorms during construction. Plasma cutters used to fit I-beams malfunctioned; the man was vaporized."

"At least it was quick," Zell muttered.

"That whole section was fraught with difficulties." Squall smoothed the folders on his desk and then lined them up perfectly with the botter. "Rumors started: ghosts."

"Haunted? You don't really believe that, do you, Squall?" Irvine's tone was incredulous. "Even that gig at Winhill turned out to be nothing but chicabos."

"Some of that area was in use with the earliest Garden classes." I really, really hate how I can't evade that cool grey gaze of Squall's. "You were in that class, Seifer: you and Xu."

For some reason my throat was dry, but I managed to grit out, "That room wasn't used." Squall kept up the torture by staring, waiting for more, so I forced myself into report mode and soldiered on. "Guy got the urge to prove it wasn't haunted. He was about to graduate. Had a perfect record. Didn't believe in ghosts. Hells, he didn't believe in Sorceresses."

Zell snorted. "And he was gunna graduate?"

"Maybe he wasn't SeeD," Irvine guessed. "Wasn't the mercenary corps part pretty hush-hush at first?"

I tried not to let Zell's dissing the man get under my skin. I could still see him, Carlos, his name was, joking around. He was one of those guys who showed all his teeth when he laughed. I glowered at the runt. "He couldn't stand his roomie, and that dorm was open, because no one else would take it, so he blew off people who told him it was haunted and moved in. It was a big deal that year."

Almost gently, Squall asked, "What happened?" Although I knew he had a good idea of what came next, it was bound to have been in the files, probably the very dossiers under his gloved hands.

I kept my tone nonchalant. "He did fine for about 3 weeks. Then he missed a few classes. Then he hung himself."

"He didn't, like, _say_ anything?" Zell wondered, which was chickenwuss talk for: 'didn't anyone notice him going over into the deep end?'

Irvine, more practical, said, "Did he leave a note?"

"Yeah," I said, looking into his too pretty violet eyes, "It said : 'Fuck It'."

Squall's firm, decisive voice clipped the long silence that followed my pithy announcement, "The kids on Level 2 have also been complaining to Dr. Kadowaki about nightmares and insomnia," He turned the folders 90 degrees and smoothed and straightened them again. "Last night, after curfew, Bradley Butterfield, a 6th grader who had just scored in the top 5 in all his studies, attempted suicide." Zell and Irvine made sad little noises. I busied myself throwing off the chill that was trying to seep in. Squall did keep his office damned cold. "His room is directly over the 'haunted' room."

"Bet he did it in the bathtub," I said without meaning to. "Slit his wrists?"

Squall blinked once. "How did you know?"

Absently, I said, "It's one of the only rooms with a bathtub instead of a shower stall. Those wings have like 4 rooms with tubs. They were for the upperclassmen." I checked out Squall's acoustic ceiling. "The 2 SeeD grads who stayed in the room to prove it wasn't haunted both killed themselves in the bathtub. Together. They sealed the wing after that."

"We don't want rumors flying. We don't need panicked parents." Squall said, his tone as clinical and bland as the good doctor's lab coat.

"Or copycats," Irvine put in, grimly.

Hesitantly, Zell asked, "Is Bradley ok? How come I didn't hear about it?" He fidgeted with his armored gloves, his bounce all gone. "He's in my afternoon self defense class."

"He hasn't regained consciousness. We've been vague, an accident in the bathroom." Squall's voice was soft, trying and failing to mask the guilt.

"Well, that's kinda true, I guess," Irvine hedged, with a wry smile.

Squall nodded, as much to himself as any of us. "We need to handle this. If there is a malevolent spirit, it has to go. Otherwise, we need some way to diffuse the situation and reassure the students and cadets."

"Kick it's _ass_, "Zell muttered. "Hurting little kids like that."

I dragged my attention back from my detailed inspection of the sole of Irvine's boot and tried to focus on the conversation. "You have to evacuate that wing."

"To what end?" Irvine said.

"It's always had a higher than average percentage of fights." As the Former Head of the Disciplinary Committee, I know these things. "And of depression cases, of violent, destructive and self destructive behavior." I said.

"...could have been just cuz _your_ room was there, Seifer." Zell flashed me a fangy grin.

"Xu wanted to do the same," Squall tapped his desk, a staccato of deliberation, "But if it's spreading, we may as well abandon the whole School."

"I can't shoot ghosts." Irvine fiddled with the beaded talisman he wore at his throat.

"No, but we fought Sorceresses, who folded into mist and self replicated. We can do this." Zell took a swift jab at a shadow. "The whole Garden can't sleep over at my folks'."

"Selphie and Nida are taking all the primaries on a weekend campout. Quistis and Xu are taking the secondaries out on mock maneuvers with the cadets. I have to have facts, not rumors, if I am going to appeal for funds to rebuild yet another Garden." Squall sighed; long speeches seem to wear him out. "We have to see what it really is. Someone is going to have to move into that room."

"I'll do it, Baby," Zell volunteered in a flash.

"No _fucking_ way!" I almost looked around with the others to see who was shouting before I realized it was me.

"Not alone," Squall added quickly. "I was hoping all four of us."

Irvine perked up visibly and nodded, suddenly showing a lot more interest in the Slumber Party from Hell than in hunting something he clearly wasn't convinced existed. "We should stay together."

"Lissen, "I said, biting off the words like they tasted bad. "It got two SeeDs. Two. It didn't take 3 weeks for them, they had three days and then they killed each other and licked the blood. I saw it. It was ugly. It looked like... vampire night at the bathhouse."

"Anyone checked Xu's room for coffins?" Irvine drawled.

"SeeD or no, they were green kids compared to us," Squall said.

Zell nodded so enthusiastically he looked like he was vibrating. "We've been through a whole war, front and center. And there's four of us."

Any other time I would have been all warm and fuzzy over Zell including me in their little group. Too bad I was too I was too busy trying not to throw up. "You don't get it: there's nothing to fight, not a Hynebedamned thing."

"Can it be worse than a battlefield?" Irvine asked softly.

"This is like walking through a battlefield after the fight is over, when nothing moves. Or you hope something isn't moving." I turned and focused on the last bit of sunset visible through Squall's window.

Squall took command again. "I need to know if we can handle it or if I have to evacuate the Garden for good and I need to know as soon as possible, before any more children in our care get hurt." He stood with barely a creak of leather and adjusted his jacket. "Gather your gear and meet at the section corridor in 30 minutes. We don't have to stay and be macho, we just have to see what's going on. It's a volunteer mission: you don't show in 30 minutes, you didn't volunteer."

"I'll be there," Zell said. "I'd've gone to the moon if you'd asked."

Squall smiled faintly. "It was... overrated." He nodded to us. "Dismissed."

Irvine and Zell left elbowing each other and telling jokes. I hung back and looked at Squall. "Have you actually been in that room?"

"No, I haven't. I only got the pass codes from Cid a little while ago."

I waited until the muscle jumping in my jaw relaxed. "You go in; you stand there. You go into that bathroom. Then you tell me they were green kids and it's nothing we can't handle."

He trapped me again with those luminous gray eyes. "Will you come with me?"

"Fuck, I'm not letting you go alone!"

Squall nodded. He knew that. We both did. Asshole.

"You worry about the chicken and the cowgirl. I'll be there, and I'll be prepared." I stalked out.


	2. Squall, Zell, Squall

Still don't own them. Hints of yaoi but nothing scarring. Changing POV. Many thanks to Xineko for beta. Many thanks to my kind reviewers!

* * *

Revenant

Chapter Two: Squall, Zell, Squall

* * *

In exactly 29 minutes I had stowed a few necessities in a leather postal-style carryall and was at the Dorm entrance. Irvine was already in position, wearing his working hat, carrying Exeter and what looked suspiciously like a purse with tassels and fringe. I could guess what was in the bag: medikit, potions, and the occasional incredibly useful item only Irvine would think to bring. I also knew what he'd tell us was in there if we asked: 'The barest necessities: ammo, lube, and a blowdryer.'

Seifer joined us seconds later. His hands were empty but he was wearing his tattered Blood Cross trenchcoat for luck. That spoke volumes about how nervous he was.

Just as I was about to breach the seal on the doors, Zell bounded up like his tail was ablaze, dragging a lumpy duffle. "Whoo! Ma called from Balamb; I thought I wasn't gunna make it on time!"

"She okay?" Irvine asked, sounding genuinely concerned. We all take an interest in Zell's parents, as he is the only one of us who has any, the over aged child I was saddled with not withstanding.

"Yeah," Zell shifted his bag to the opposite shoulder and fluffed his spiky cowlick, shuffling his sneakers. "I had to explain why I wasn't coming for dinner."

"Mission is only one word." I pointed out, faintly bemused.

"The pot roast was already in the oven, Baby." Zell poked me in the shoulder, "Next time, _you_ can tell her."

I rolled my eyes and passed through the blast doors, which had blockaded the area for as far back as my memory reached. The stairwell leading to the lower dorms was newly renovated; I could smell the chemical tang of fresh paint. Behind me, Irvine asked if we'd be staying the night.

"Xu is convinced the local time is a factor, so I'd like to stay until after midnight." Pointing out how surreal our shadows looked lurching down the treads with us would not help Seifer's tension, so I kept that observation to myself.

Irvine sighed miserably. "I was so hoping we weren't. There goes my date. Hope one of you is planning to pick up the slack."

I made no promises but Zell did a little shimmy for him, shaking his ass suggestively. Not that you could see much through the baggy t-boarder pants.

Seifer forced himself to speak, talking like it pained him. "Status on the kid?"

"No change." I shook my head, our descent down the stairs continuing, the shadows congealing oddly in corners. "His parents will arrive in 2 days. I'd like to have concrete information by then."

Irvine scoffed, "Any explanation has to be better than Xu's '_Tales from the Crypt_'."

It was weird down below. It looked new and unused but smelled old and musty. I gestured to the left. "The stairway down to Level 3 is there."

Irvine paused melodramatically, one hand to his heart, the other to his forehead. "Whatever happens, promise you won't bury me in Galbadia."

"Not until you're dead, at least," I agreed, earning a snort of amusement from Seifer.

"Thanks," Irvine grinned, "I like the beaches here."

"You'd haunt the women's locker room anyway, Irv," Zell said. "Kinda like you do _now_." He easily dodged the friendly cuff.

"Ew," Seifer said, "For eternity?"

"What do I care," Irvine shrugged, "I'm dead, right?"

"Go with the secret smoochie spot in the Training Center," Seifer advised, as if haunting the school was an option and location a vital consideration. "Caught two of the girls going at it hammer and tongs the other day."

I paused at the heavy doors and keyed open a switch pad. It swung open reluctantly, with a puff of dust. I entered the password and lights flickered around the door's edges. Slowly, with a grinding and scraping noise, the heavy metal doors parted, only to freeze in their tracks.

Zell, who had been pointing out the horrors of an eternity of watching and not getting to participate, let his voice trail off when the noise started. He managed a huff when the doors seized, leaving a narrow gap Seifer could not possibly fit through.

I slipped inside as soon as there was room, Irvine on my heels. He looked around and wrinkled his nose at the sweetish dead mouse in the walls scent permeating the area. "Well, damn, all my happy horny thoughts just faded away."

Behind us, Zell was checking the doors to see what impeded them. I heard the _'bookabooka'_ of graphite being applied, and then he and Seifer forced the doors to their fully open stand by position.

I coughed, the stale air was heavy in my lungs; I didn't like it.

Seifer took a ragged breath and sneezed. "Boy howdy, we're gunna have a pajama party, kids."

"All the Ocean Breeze air freshener in the Balamb Stop'n'Shop is not going to help this." Zell gagged, his tone strained from trying not to breathe through his nose.

Grateful for the distraction, Irvine said, "You think those people ever smelled an ocean? I could just quit cleaning my aquarium if I liked that aroma."

I flexed my hands and was reassured by the creak and resistance of my leather gloves. Summoning command where I felt none, I said, "Secure the area. Get the lights on. Let's see what we have here."

Zell dropped his overstuffed bag at the door and took point. I partnered Irvine, letting Seifer hang back closer to the doors, covering the rear. Locating the light switches wasn't an issue: all the Gardens are standardized. The lights struggled on, buzzing faintly, gradually filling the area with a sickly greenish yellow light; typical of aging fluorescents.

"Ah, that lovely corpselight, gotta love it," Seifer said.

"I brought my strobe light," Irvine offered. "Just in case."

"Just in case you are gripped with an uncontrollable urge to disco?" Zell snickered.

I led them to the room in question, at the end of the first hall. It was perceptibly colder there; our breaths made frosty puffs in the stagnant chill. Instinctively, we pulled close, into a tighter formation. I looked around the room, measuring it against the features of my own. "No windows, were they blocked out?"

"Don't know that they ever had them," Seifer said. "This used to be below ground level."

I drew Lionhart and nodded to Zell, who was hovering near the door to the bathroom, his usual bounce stifled to an insistent jitter. He set his chin and reached for the lights. I told myself he was the logical one to do it, no weapon to hold, but when Seifer reached out, a glowing swirl of a spell forming in his hand, it was more comforting than I care to admit.

The lights did not work.

Irvine shifted and grumbled, "I have a really bad feeling about this..."

"Musta burnt out," Zell's shrug was hopeful, a whistle in the darkness.

Seifer's palm burst into flames as the spell coalesced and he stepped in behind Zell. "Outta the way, Chickenwuss."

"I always knew you were a flamer," Zell snapped. Nothing gets under his skin faster than that nickname.

"Not when I'm holding back a Fira, Chicken." Seifer growled gently and raised his arm to spread the light.

"Zell, cover him. Irvine, cast Scan." Gunblade in hand, I had their backs in the doorway.

"I'm half afraid to look," Irvine said, but he readied the spell.

Zell pulled up Thundaga, making a fist and glaring defiantly at Seifer even as he covered him. "I am _not_ chicken!"

"You're sure as fuck not beef," Seifer countered reasonably. "When you come up past my nipples, we'll talk. And tall hair doesn't count." In the flickering red light of Seifer's spell, we all saw...

...a very clean empty bathroom with two extremely dead hanging plants frizzled in the corner.

"Scan what?" Irvine laughed with relief. "I can tell you right now that Dollet Fern is history."

Zell changed the subject abruptly. "Is it just me, or it freezing in here?"

My breath was frosting in the fur trim of my collar. "Don't look at me, I was ready to Draw."

Seifer said indulgently, "Only Squall meets every unknown monster with Draw."

"Hey! The water in the toilet is skimming with ice," Zell said wonderingly.

Seifer scowled and looked around. "It wasn't this bad before, what the fuck changed?"

"Before what?" Irvine sounded confused. "We're here, can that be it?"

"Before," Seifer clarified, "When I was a kid."

I rested my hand against the solid assurance of Lionhart's hilt. "I'm seeing nothing but malfunctioning climate control," I told them. "Zell, you and Irvine go check the breakers. Seifer, let's check the bedroom again."

"Whoa, Baby, now we're talking."

I rolled my eyes at his leer and let Seifer follow me into the bedroom.

* * *

"It's a sad state of affairs when I'd rather be working with you than hanging out in a bedroom with Squall," Irvine chuckled. Then he reconsidered how that sounded, "Ah...No offense intended."

I laughed and shrugged. "Warmer out here, anyway." We walked to the mechanical alcove and the breaker box. If we were a little closer together than strictly necessary, well, no Seifer was around to make wise assed comments.

"I figure, when a guy is looking at circuit breakers, he's just guessing, anyway." Irvine leaned against the wall, not quite managing his usual laid-back poise. "Same with peering under a car hood."

"Hey, I know what _I'm_ doing. Not my fault you flirted your way through the mechanical classes." I reached to unlock the popup access ring on the cover...

... and the lights went out in the halls.

* * *

"Dincht!" Seifer roared.

Startled from an empty search of a faintly dusty dresser, I blinked when the dimness flattened to near pitch black. "Wrong switch?" I guessed.

"Hold me," Seifer said. I'm not sure he was kidding.

"I didn't do it!" Zell shouted from the corridor.

I could still see; Seifer was still holding the Fira spell. He grinned at me and whispered conspiratorially, "I knew that was gunna happen."


	3. Zell, Squall, Seifer

Still don't own 'em. Still nothing particularly R-rated in this chapter, but hang in there, it'sa comin'. Xineko did a lovely job of improving our rough draft, praise her!

* * *

Revenant

Chapter 3: Zell, Squall, Seifer

* * *

Irvine yelped as the doors we came through shut with barely a whoosh, cutting off the light seeping down from the upper levels. "Okay, _fine_! We've just officially worn out our welcome."

I pulled a mini-torch from my pocket and examined the breaker box, shaking my head. "Looks like nothing has been touched in ten years." Methodically, I went through the breakers sequence, flipping each one off and after counting 30 seconds, back on. "Fucknoodle."

Irvine watched, huddled close to my body heat and I think the light. "It's not working, is it?"

I shook my head. "I wonder if it's so cold because the power is messed up, or if the power is messed up because it's so cold."

"Dunno, but Shiva's ass sounds pretty warm and inviting compared to this place right now." Suddenly, Irvine found a happy thought. "You know," he drawled slyly. "if it stays cold like this... we're gunna need to get some _real_ body heat going."

I grinned at him. "I thought all your happy hentai thoughts had faded away?"

"They came back," Irvine said smugly. "Must have been the bad lighting that ran them off."

* * *

I looked around the room. Other than rimes of ice, I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. "All I see are simple malfunctions."

"Try taking your hand off your gunblade, then." Seifer said. "There's nothing in here for us to kill but each other... and it wants that."

"Is that why you didn't drop the spell? You thought I'd attack you?" I slid Lionhart back into the junction sheath and looked up at Seifer.

He pulled a face. "No, Dipshit, I'm cold and the lights were out."

Zell shrieked from the hall.

I charged out the door, yelling, "Status!"

"They're heeerrrrrreeeee," Seifer said cheerfully. Asshole.

"It wasn't me!" Irvine called back.

Zell was leaning against the wall, trying to get his breathing and heart rate back under control. He had dropped his light and it was rolling along the floor, casting freaky shadows along the walls.

"What are we screaming about?" Irvine whispered frantically. "Should I scream, too?"

"Hope someone has a credit card and spare pair of shorts for the Chicken," Seifer remarked breezily, ambling along behind me.

"Seifer, quick fucking around and bring the Hynebedamned light." I joined them and said, "Zell, Irvine! Status?"

"...sorry, Baby." Zell's expression of embarrassment was one of the most reassuring things I'd seen all night.

Irvine turned Zell into the red light of Seifer's spell and tried to check him over. "Let's make sure you haven't joined the ranks of the Undead, Darlin'."

Zell was still spooked and jumpy. "I cast a 'Scan' on the breaker box for giggles. I got... I saw..." His voiced cracked slightly in terror or shock, "It was a bloody screaming face. It _lunged_ at me!"

"Are you hurt?" I asked, concerned. Seifer's 'chicken' is based on Zell's hair, not his bravery, after all. What could have upset him so badly? "Irvine, did you see it, too? Did you get a reading on it?"

"He looks ok," Irvine said, and stretched to retrieve the light, clicking it off automatically before handing it back to Zell. We were left in the flickering red aura of Seifer's Fira. "I looked away for just a sec, then saw Zell tryin to climb the wall. That's about it."

"Welcome to the Twilight Zone, Chickenwuss," Seifer said grimly. Zell was still so rattled he didn't even react to the nickname.

I reconnoitered, then pointed back to the stairwell. "Seifer, shine your light that way." The spell affect radius expanded, and Seifer turned slightly, angling his palm in the direction I indicated. "Did you trip the breaker for the blast doors? The stairway is closed off again."

"That happened before we got to the box," Irvine said. "Just after the lights went out." 

"Even so...," Zell mused. "The power-cycle _should_ have reactivated them." He held up his flashlight, absently checking to see if _it_ still worked although we'd all seen Irvine just switch it off. Zell shook the minitorch, then clicked it on, the beam unintentionally under his chin: the Lighting of Extreme Evil. I flinched slightly. I can never tell Zell how much like Adel he looked.

"Well, that was sharp as an altar candle, Chickie," Seifer frowned

I elbowed Seifer. "Can you get the power back up?"

Zell cast the beam in a more sensible direction and shook his head slowly, puzzled. "Whatever the problem is, it's either not..._electrical_, or not here." He hesitated, chewing his lip, before asking, "What was up with that freaky face?"

Irvine shrugged. "I'm just glad I didn't have a stroke when you shot straight up the air like a spooked cat."

"I don't know, Zell, you are the only one who saw it." That didn't sound as consoling as I'd hoped.

Helpfully, Seifer said, "Probably one of the dead guys trapped in the fucking walls."

I gave him a look possibly as cold as the ice bound toilet. "They couldn't leave a whole _body_ in the walls, it's unsanitary." Irvine chuckled at that. "I'm sure they got _that_ memo." 

"Then what's that fucking _smell_, Puberty Boy?" If he wasn't holding that Fira, I know Seifer would have smugly folded his arms across his chest.

"Your upper lip?" Zell said, but quietly.

"Maybe, it's like... a memory?" Irvine guessed.

"Odors stimulate memory," Seifer said. "Memories don't generate smells."

I shrugged, irritated by the whole scenario and its pretensions of supernatural menace. "Mouse. Mildew. Malfunction. Old socks."

"Is that one of those groovy beatnik poems?" Irvine looked around, watching the slow arc of Zell's powerful little flashlight beam as it searched along the planes and gaps of the corridor walls.

"There's nothing in that room." I collected myself, reasserting command of the situation. "Let's search the others. Start here and work our way back to the stairs. Seifer, you and Irvine go left, Zell and I will take the rooms on the- "

Irvine gasped suddenly, grabbing Zell's arm. "Shine your light back over there!" Zell obeyed, sweeping the beam in slow retreat, but there was only the wall, like every other in Garden, but looking strangely pristine, lacking the normal scuffs and scratches from the student population.

"What was it?" Zell asked.

Irvine shook his head. "Nothing." He edged closer to Seifer.

* * *

Squall caught my eye and I shut my mouth on the smart remark that was forming. That cost me some, but I'd get even later. Instead, I put my arm around Irvine, guiding him toward a dorm entrance. The Fira in my hand cast a rosy glow, making it seem almost cozy. I asked, "See something, Cowboy?"

"Some blood... scratches... bloody handprints and I think a face print. My imagination working over time." Irvine tightened his hold on my sleeve and closes his eyes like he could erase the memory. I let him cuddle, not like I'd complain about _that_, even on a good day, which this was turning out not to be fast.

I surveyed the room; to my knowledge it had never been used. I knew we were wasting time searching and I knew Squall knew it, too. On the other hand, Our Fearless Leader wanted to hang around until the witching hour, and there wasn't a lot to do in the dark in a barren dorm room.

Okay, I was with Irvine, and there was a hellova lot we could be doing. But it would be tricky holding the Fira.

Since I had the light, Irvine 'searched' by poking about in a 3-foot radius of me. He quit as soon as he realized I wasn't going to get in his shit over not checking in each drawer and shower stall.

"I... guess the death of the SeeD's made quite an impression?" Irvine asked, too casually.

I snorted. "I was 10 years old. I got assigned to help wash the walls."

Irvine stared at me, his pansy colored eyes wide with shock. "You cleaned..." his gaze cut past me, out into the hall where he'd seen the blood I remembered so well.

"Shit, you think they had the upperclassmen do it? And they sure as fuck didn't want off base help in here." I tried not to think about Cid's nervous smile, assuring me that Matron needed her Knight's assistance on this, that it had to be Our Little Secret. "Big scandal like that would have ruined the Garden." I shrugged, much as I had then. Dead is dead, blood is blood and pocket change is a very good thing to have plenty of. I wasn't _Cid's_ Knight. It was a job, and it wasn't too bad until... "When I saw the bodies," I felt the quaver start and forced my voice to stay calm and unaffected, "One of them looked up and grinned at me and said 'you'll be with us'."

"Fuck," Irvine breathed, and for once it wasn't a request.

"So, I'm a tad hateful about this whole scene."

"How can you be so calm about it, if you were here?" Irvine snuggled to me, offering the comfort of his presence. And getting closer to the light.

I debated telling him the truth, that I wasn't handling it too well, and the incessant whispers of it mocking me and coaxing me to feed it the blood it craved were starting to carve big chunks out of my will.

I shrugged. "I shit before I came, so I wouldn't brown trou."

* * *

Thank you for the reviews! Soon, soon, we'll get the the actual plot. Or at least, the smut. Anyone besides me hate the way the scene breaks vanish upon upload? 


	4. Squall, Irvine

Not my boys; if they were there would be more yaoi and less combat.

Many hugs and thank yous for the reviews! I'm glad you find it creepy; I hope I can sustain the effect. Another mild chappie but next is yaoi and I hope worth the overall rating of the fic.

Xineko beta-ed this chapter and many of the good bits are hers, or Acid Rain's, or Pixie518's. XI is trying to wean me off "he said" but it's a fight.

* * *

Revenant

Chapter 4: Squall, Irvine

* * *

Zell and I made our way to the right side of the corridor.

"You want me to take point, Baby?" To his credit, all signs of his recent scare had vanished.

"We'll stay together." I wished I could shrug off the effect of witnessingZell frightened as easily. "I don't want only one of us to see whatever we find."

"'kay," Zell chirped, and took me at my word; if he got any closer, he would have been looped within the loosest of my belts.

The first dorm I opened and peered in was largely empty, but the rumpled and dusty bedding remained. It read to me as if the occupant had been given enough warning to pack but not to clean.

Zell and I searched each dorm diligently, working our way back towards the stairs and the allegedly haunted room. Major discoveries thus far: numerous candy wrappers, a well thumbed stash of '_Girl Next_ _Door_' magazines, and a truly gruesome towel; it must have been left wet in the shower, mildewing ever since into a horrid wad.

Pausing by one of the ubiquitous glassed in bulletin boards that Gardens can't seem to function without, Zell played the beam of his light over the grayed and dusty notices. "Hn, doesn't seem like the Cafeteria menu improved much in 10 years."

"But they are on their second side of beef already," I teased mildly, scanning the hall out of habit. The reddish glow from Seifer's Fira spilling across the hall up ahead told me he and Irvine were either more efficient or less thorough. A row of open doors marked their progress; I realized we had done the same. Something glinted and for a moment, I thought I was seeing a large puddle of blood. Keeping my voice calm, I said, "Zell, what is that?"

Instantly Zell turned and flashed his light around. "Looks like a puddle of ice... maybe the pipes burst? It's awful close to Shiva's Outhouse, there."

Shiva- and I on her behalf- was faintly insulted by the association. As if she'd have any involvement with frightening children. Or SeeDs. Or anything to do with plumbing, for that matter. "It's right on the other side," I agreed. "Logically the bathrooms are back to back like in the upper floors." We edged closer. It must have been the shielding on Zell's minitorch that made everything looks so luridly wet and red.

I looked for signs of water damage typical with a broken water pipe but saw none ."I'm going to Scan it."

Zell looked hesitant. "Okay, Baby, but..." I nodded curtly to him and cast, braced for apparitions of bloody screaming faces.

I was _not_ prepared for that icy puddle erupting in a volcano of frozen blood. I fell back against Zell's chest, arm instinctively raised to shield my eyes; the rest of me was inundated with slurries of slime. I felt rivulets dripping through my hair and choked on the smell of old freezer burned meat.

Zell caught me; steadied me against his chest. "Peeeeee-Ew!" How can anyone _gag_ cheerfully?

Seifer and Irvine rushed into the hall. "Hyne!" Seifer made a retching noise. "Somebody fart and improve that stench."

Irvine laughed, immediately apologized for laughing, and continued to chuckle. He rummaged in his purse and came up with a packet of moist towellettes, which he handed to me.

"Do I wanna to know why you carry those?" Zell asked. I realized I was still cradled in his grasp and moved hastily away to attempt cleanup.

Irvine grinned and winked at Zell in lieu of a reply, and returned to his survey of the hallway. He was nearly back to back with Seifer who stood vigil over the passage to the doors, past the supposedly haunted room.

"Well, we're rockin' and rollin', now," Seifer grumbled.

I scrubbed at my face; nothing is quite as revoltingly sticky as old blood. Now I smelled like _lemon fresh_ old freezer burned meat.

"What happened?" Irvine asked.

"It's Scan," Zell offered. "Freaky shit pops out under Scan."

"Why, though?" I looked for a place to discard the used wipes. I was forced to tuck them back into their foil envelopes and put them in my pocket.

Chewing his lip, Zell shrugged. "Didn't happen when you cast in The Bathroom, did it, Irvine?"

"I didn't cast. The plants were dead and I'm not in the habit of Scanning inanimate objects like you guys. Anyway," he confessed with a bad little boy smile, "I'm not junctioned. I don't like having Siren in my head 24/7; I have to call her and then junction and I tend to avoid it if I can."

I sighed. Irvine had taken to paramagic and the GF's easily enough during the war; it was easy enough for me to forget the fact that -not trained at Balamb- he might still retain memories he was loathe to lose.

"Scan is the paramagical version of clairvoyance," Seifer remarked absently. "You get a lot of symbolism in those spells, remember the elemental notes on most monsters?"

Nodding, I tried not to flinch as the blood soaked fur of my collar brushed my jaw. "Clear this area and then we'll go back; we need electrical testing equipment and other supplies."

"Like about a case of 'Springtime in Winhill' air freshener," Zell said.

"I do have aromatherapy candles," Irvine confessed. "Bergamot, grapefruit-ginger, and Rose-orange. Good for energy and happiness."

"In short, sex." Zell laughed. "There was never any doubt."

* * *

Squall marched us through the search each dorm: bedroom, dresser, bathroom, next; Zell hustled alongside him like a good little soldier. Seifer and I hovered on the fringes, sticking close together, on watch for I don't know what. Maybe Seifer was looking for comfort, after all he was acting skittish before we even got here. I can tell you, that worried me a lot more than the possibility of a haunted can: something that made Seifer sweat, Zell yell, and Squall flinch.

I figured when it was my turn, I'd faint dead away like a proper Galbadian lady confronted with a naked man and a smirk. Come to think on it, I was much more in the mood for a naked man than ghost busting, and I eyed my three soon to be volunteers.

"Are we really going hang here until midnight?" I hoped I didn't sound whiny. The charge on Zell's flashlight wouldn't last that long and not even Seifer could hold a spell for _hours_.

Squall stretched a little, a very distracting movement, and confirmed, "We should leave now and come back with hazmat gear, and an electrical testing kit." Took me a few minutes to translate that; my brain turned off all upper function the moment his shoulders and back started their sinuous arch. The path of the horndog never runs smoothly, but oh, the bumps are lovely.

"Good idea, Baby," Zell bounced, "maybe take a peek down in engineering at the climate controls for this area." He's always happy to have a direction to channel all that energy. My personal theory of why Zell and Quezacotal get along so well? _He_ powers _her_.

We collected at the stairway doors and Squall moved to the pad to key in the pass codes. It occurred to me that he hadn't offered the codes to any of us, and we hadn't asked, which meant if he'd been knocked unconscious instead of sprayed with stinky, stale water, we'd all be well and truly fucked without a kiss. And not in any nice way.

I pulled in a bit closer as if ready to help muscle the doors open once the magnetic locks released, and took advantage of my height to spy a little. I noticed Seifer was also memorizing the code while holding the Fira to give Squall light.

Naturally, the doors didn't open. Not good.

Seifer's ironic monotone dropped flat against the dusty hush: "Booyaka."

"Uh-oh," Zell scooted to Squall's side, examining the doorpad.

"Manual override," Squall said, offering a long red key. "One of you take the key and I'll count down to the codes."

Zell grabbed the key and with a nifty bit of juggling, tossed me his flashlight. I covered Squall and Seifer slipped over to give Zell enough light to find the keyhole.

"Turn on my command," Squall punched in a series of numbers too fast for me to catch. "Ready?"

"Ready," Zell confirmed.

Squall keyed the final code and as he hit enter, called, "Turn."

Blue sparks danced over the keypad and frissons of wicked light played over Squall, who stumbled back against me with a gasp of pain. My hand seared on one of his belt buckles when I grabbed him as his legs folded. We collapsed together, me on my knees, and Squall wound up in my lap. It's a position I would have liked a lot better under other circumstances.

"Hyne's hairy ass crack," Seifer snarled, shoulder slamming Zell away from the key before he was completely electrocuted. The little guy hit the wall like a sack of fried turds and slid down with a groan.

Seifer on him like a chocabo on greens, dropping the long held Fira. The flashlight had fallen from my hands: it was dark enough to see foul lightening licking over Zell's armored gloves before he or Quezacotal sucked it up.

Predictably, the doors did not budge one iota. Really not good.

"Zell?" Squall panted.

"...hands," Zell confessed.

"Light!" Seifer demanded.

"Fuck," I muttered. The cylindrical object I _wanted_ to touch was _not_ the one I was fumbling for in the dark.

I came up with a handful of lightsticks from my carryall. I popped two and rolled them at Seifer and Zell, then clenched one in my teeth as I searched for a potion. I nearly laughed and dropped our light when I looked over at poor Zell: the electricity had puffed his hair out so he looked like a tattooed dandelion.

Seifer scooped up a lightstick and ordered, a might unnecessarily in my opinion, "Check Squall out, Irvine. I got the 'wuss."

"Not a wuss," Zell said, sounding more like the baby only I remembered than the warrior.

Seifer just smoothed down some of Zell's poofed hair distractedly and dug a potion from his pocket. "Load up," he said, pouring some of the healing liquid directly onto Zell's palms. "Burn on your weapon is not good."

That mental image made me shift and wince a bit, and it wasn't Exeter I was thinking about, either. I gazed down at my armful of Squall. "You ok, Captain?"

"Yes," Squall stripped off his gloves. "Shocked me, feels like my hands are burned, too."

"'m fine, Quez protects me from most electrical damage." Zell inspected his armored gloves. "but maybe not from getting scorched by hot metal..."

"You do not neglect your weapon and in your case, it's your hands." Seifer reiterated with remarkable patience for him. He dumped more cure across Zell's palms. "Can you flex them all right?"

Squall's hands, bare for my examination, were slim and pale, like a lady's, except for the fact that he chews his nails. Maybe that's why he wears the gloves all the time. "Doesn't look too bad." I assured him.

"No," Squall confirmed gravely, "the blood isn't mine."

I blinked; tried to focus in the weird green light of the glowsticks. "...blood?"

I didn't see any blood.

"When I got splattered," Squall explained. "Some of the blood must have soaked through my gloves and stained my hands, they are covered in blood." I didn't remember seeing any blood out in the hall, either, just some frost and that lovely smell of stagnant bilge water. Sensing my hesitation, he repeated reassuringly, "It's not mine."

Not at all comforted, I glanced over to Seifer, who was occupied with helping a shaken Zell to his feet.

"I ain't sayin' what I'm seein'," Seifer said. "Get a potion in Lady MacBeth, Irv."

"Is this a gunblade I see before me?" Zell chortled faintly and leaned against the wall. His addled gaze fell on the doors. "Aw, they didn't open?"

"Right, blood. Hold still, Darlin'" I coaxed a potion down Squall. I love playing doctor.

Taking the potion like a good boy, Squall fished out his cell phone. "Fried. Irvine, do you have yours? Can you reach Quis?"

I shook my head. "Rings too much, too distractin' when I'm tryin' to work."  
  
"It's still a few hours to midnight." Seifer said, grimly. "You wanted to see what new happy shit would get flung into the whirling blades of our lives then, anyway."

Squall edged away from me and stood; he must have finally realized he had been sitting in my lap. "I want a shower." I tried not to take that personal, blaming the blood I couldn't see.

"_Here_?" Zell was incredulous.

"You'll freeze your dick off." Seifer demurred for a beat; then palmed his face and shook his head. "Wait, what am I saying?"

"You aren't coated in," Squall ignored Seifer and stalked to the nearest dorm. "..._whatever_."

"In what, frost?" Zell trotted along behind.

"No, frozen blood, it's disgusting."

Zell and I exchanged looks. "Baby," he tried, "There's no blood on you. Not that _I_ can see, anyway."

"I can see it." Squall snapped, then halted and added, "I'm hallucinating. Could the air quality be bad?"

"Maybe it's that frost gunk," I said smoothly, more than happy with the idea of getting Squall naked.

Zell agreed, "Wouldn't hurt to wash it off."

"Aw, you don't like Our Fearless Leader smelling like a wet mutt?" Seifer tossed Zell's duffle onto the bunk, laughing in the face of Squall's indignant glare. But he seemed to me like he was forcing it.

"I'll get cleaned up and we can all rest until zero-hundred hours," Squall said. "Nothing happens, we'll have verified it's mechanical issues, not some ...paranormal infestation." He shrugged off his jacket with a faint expression of distaste. "Worst case scenario, we wait a day for Quistis and Xu to rescue us."

"That _is_ the worst case, totally," Zell wrinkled his nose. "We could try the ducts to another level, first. Up might be tricky but down, to engineering, that's doable."

"You mean _you_ will try the vents," Seifer said. "No way will I fit. In fact, I'm not too sure you can get your shoulders thru there anymore, Chickie." He grinned. "Might have to drop Kinneas down the hole."

I shuddered. The dark didn't bother me, but small dark _close_ places – close being defined and anywhere without enough room to pull Exeter and shoot – gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Squall left a trail of wet leathers to the bathroom. Zell followed dutifully along behind him, picking them up and shaking them out before spreading the clothes to dry. He held up a glowstick and scrutinized Squall's jacket by its wavery incandescence. "Just looks like water to me," he murmured, cutting his eyes to the bathroom door as it closed.

Seifer nodded. "Don't leave him in there alone."

"I'll go in," I said, trying not to drool. "I have body wash and shampoo in my gear." I fished out my amenities and a towel. I ignored Zell's baffled stare and tossed the travel candles to Seifer. "You guys get it all nice and cozy in here," I smiled beatifically, "I'll go scrub the Captain's back."

"It's a dirty job," Zell sighed, "but somebody's gotta do it."


	5. Squall, Seifer

My apologies for the lack of foursome in this chapter. The fic wants to be more horror and less smut, go fig. This is the bowdlerized version anyway. For those of you familiar with YM, I've posted the somewhat more racy (you should excuse the expression) version there.

Warnings: foul language, yaoi, NC, squick, things typical to a horror fic. Management is not responsible for scaring to young impressionable psyches. Read at your own risk.

Characters not mine, yaddita, yaddita, quack quack. I have no idea what has against spaces between scenes. I assure you I have tried everything I can think of to get the spacing correct.

* * *

Revenant: Chapter 5

* * *

_Squall_

Irvine dropped a few light sticks in the sink, letting the medicine cabinet mirror spread their meager green light. He slipped into the shower behind me, making a happy noise when he discovered the water was hot.

At least, I think that's what the happy sound was about.

I was standing under the downpour, letting the hot water scrub away the last of the rancid blood. It bothered me a little that no one else noticed it was there.

He wasted no time lathering me up. Irvine's body wash smelled like ginger and peaches and some pleasant herby thing. It felt good to be clean, and to have Irvine's large hands on me. I leaned against the wall, resting on my arms, and let him wash and massage my worries away. The part of me that is all about duty and responsibility wanted to protest when Irvine's soap slicked fingers started wandering. We were on a mission, after all, and this was neither the time nor the place. But I was tired, and cold with something more than simple temperature, and when Irvine wrapped his arms around me I couldn't find the strength to say 'no'.

Afterwards, when we were drying each other off, I caught his grin and rolled my eyes. "Yes," I conceded, "you were right again and sex cures everything."

"Not everything, Darlin'," Irvine confessed, "Just _most_ things."

I took a clean tee shirt from my satchel and tied our one, sodden towel around my hips, preparatory to finding my leathers. Irvine's all over tan is a testament to his ease with nakedness, but he pretended to stalk my towel all the same, playfully making as if to snatch it for himself.

We both shivered when we left the steamy warm bathroom; the cold clawed at us. Irvine beelined for a pile of blankets; I tried to reconcile myself to clammy leathers.

Seifer and Zell had raided the nearby rooms, creating a nest of faintly dusty blankets, pillows, and even mattresses. The room was dotted with Irvine's candles and the soft glow was a vast improvement over the cold white of the flashlights or the putrid green of the light sticks. The scents were nice, too, and almost masked the faint but pervasive smell of death.

Seifer and Zell were seated in the middle of the nest, Zell in Seifer's lap, his back to him. Seifer was kissing the large bruise blossoming on Zell's shoulder, perhaps an apology, or as close as Seifer gets.

"Come on in," Seifer said, "the water is fine."

I arched an eyebrow and reached for my pants. They were cold, wet, and still slimy with blood. I hesitated.

"Don't get dressed yet, Baby," Zell told me. "We have a couple hours until Midnight, let them dry out a bit. You can wear my PJ's if you want."

"Would those be the ones with the little chickabos on them?" Irvine asked, laughing.

"And rainbows." I remembered the horrible things well.

"Hey, they're fuzzy!" Zell defended. "Good defense against eeeeeeevil ghosts."

Seifer shook his head, wonderingly. "Hyne, Zell, what does your mom have against you?"

"We all got some that Yule," Irvine laughed. "Mine had little moogles and I think Squall's had moombas."

"And you didn't pack them?" Seifer pretended to be incredulous.

"I have no night clothes," I said.

Zell fell back against Seifer's chest. "He disowned them!"

"Along with that scary nightshirt Rinoa got you, the one with the pin tucks and the ruffles." Irvine patted the space beside him and I took the hint. Even with Shiva I could feel my skin goosepimpling in the cold. As soon as I lay down beside Irvine, he grabbed me up and rolled me over so that I was wedged between him and Zell. Somehow in this operation, I was divested of the wet towel, too.

"I bet you could have made that look sexy, Baby."

"I looked like the heroine in a gothic romance. All I needed was the candle and to get lost on the moors."

Zell and Irvine swooned in unison. I was left looking at Seifer, who yawned. "We got nap time before Harpy Hour. You take Emily, there, Squall, and I'll take Charlotte."

From Seifer's arms, Zell murmured sleepily, "How come no one ever remembers the other one?"

"What other one?" Irvine asked. He wrapped his arm and a leg around me and I found I didn't much care about neglected and dead writers.

Seifer growled, "The one no one gives a fuck about. Go to sleep, girls."

Warmed by body heat and lulled by the scent and light of Irvine's seduction candles, I found myself relaxing. When I woke up, I was more surprised by the fact that I had been asleep than I was by finding Seifer's body over me.

Or was I still dreaming? On either side of us Zell and Irvine slept on. They muttered and twitched like they were fighting in their sleep.

Everywhere Seifer touched me burned, but I couldn't decide if it was with heat or intense cold. He leaned down and kissed me, pressing my lips against my teeth, pushing his teeth into sensitive flesh. When he withdrew my mouth felt swollen and bruised.

Seifer took both my wrists in one hand and forced my arms over my head. He nipped up the undersides, drawing blood more than once. I knew something was wrong, Seifer would never hurt me like this, but I couldn't make myself do anything about it. The dream had too firm a hold on me, or perhaps I was simply too astonished to react.

I could feel blood trickling down my arms and taste it on my lips. I was not sure if it were my own or his… or someone, some_thing_ else's. Seifer reeked of it; even his sweat was red. I screamed, more from the horror of it than the pain. Zell thrashed violently and then lay still. Irvine whispered my name.

I felt myself splitting and ripping to make way for Seifer. My own blood was burning me now, leaving silver white scars on my flesh. I knew Seifer was close and that when he did climax, he'd spill blood instead of seed into me.

I kept screaming.

* * *

_Seifer_

I woke up on top of Squall. Hyne, what had I done? It was Ultimecia all over again, waking up and the real nightmare, dealing with the consequences of my actions, just beginning.

"Squall?" I said, trying to put a heart's worth of questions in one word. My voice croaked like an elderly crow.

"It's all right," He soothed. "I'm fine, it's fine." Squall opened his eyes and I swear I saw flies walking on their dead surfaces. He smiled at me, his teeth stained red with blood. "In fact, it's terrific."

I rolled off him and reached for my pants. Whatever was coming next, it wasn't going to be pretty, and there was no point in distracting the others by showing my superiority. Squall rose with his usual careless grace, taking a blanket with him and wearing it like a shroud. He made an absentminded gesture, releasing the others from the spell that held them.

Oh, this was going to be bad.

Zell was on his feet before he was fully awake, looking for a target. He looked around, tousled and bemused. "What's going on?"

Irvine woke up with a start, moving to lie on his back. "Nightmare," he whispered, but I don't know if it was an explanation or reassurance.

I zipped up the fly of my pants, trying to watch all three of them and still be my cool casual self.

"Seifer raped me," Squall accused. He drew back the blanket like a theatre curtain and let it drop, a dramatic showing of all the bites, bruises, and Oh, Hyne, still trickling blood.

I saw Zell's slight shift in balance, but was too slow to block the back circle kick. They watched me go down, and didn't see what I did – the cold little bloodstained smile.


	6. Irvine, Seifer

Thank you so much for the reviews! I'm glad you found the chapter as creepy as I had intended. I should mention that the evil raping ghost was Xineko's idea, bless her twisted little heart. Many thanks to Yaoimongers and my own, private Seifer for advice and inspirations.

Short chapter this time, but things are starting to warm up. Hints of yaoi and violence and a lot of cussing.

* * *

Revenant: Chapter 6

* * *

_Irvine_

I was having hellacious nightmares, the kind where the chocobo droppings fly straight into the whirling blades and I was helpless to stop it. Wait, this was reality. The nightmare had been about Seifer turning cannibal and eating us all. And not in the fun way. I was starting to feel certain nostalgia for it; at least in the dream I knew what the hells was going on.

I forget, sometimes, that we have weapons, but Zell _is_ a weapon, and I guess Squall pulled his trigger. And again, not in the fun way.

Seifer dropped like a sack of wet shit. I looked over at him, to see if he was still breathing, and then up at Zell and Squall. "Tell me one of you knows what just happened. Lie to me if you must."

Zell turned to Squall. "You ok, Baby? Shit, you're bleeding!" His eyes cut back to Seifer, ready to hit him again. Another thing people forget about Zell – he's got a temper and when he focuses it, once he gets started, he's damn near unstoppable. So I got in the way just in case Zell decided to mash Seifer's melon into a pancake with one of his axe kicks, and took the opportunity to make sure Seifer wasn't going to die on us. After all, we could always kill him later, but I wasn't carrying any Phoenix down.

Squall slithered into his still damp leather pants, a sight under normal circumstances I would buy tickets to see. "It's almost midnight," he said, like nothing had happened. "Get ready."

We scrambled for our clothes and gear, had we really slept that long? I could see Zell waking up, becoming more alert, although how he does that without coffee is a mystery to me.

"What about Seifer?" I asked.

"He was acting funny all night," Zell said hesitantly, like he was ashamed to excuse what had no excuse, but fairness forced it out. "Stay with him, but tie him up. Just in case."

"Whatever," Squall shrugged. He turned and did that weird spell-snatching thing on Seifer. I guess I should have thought of that, a lot of spells can be cast even if your arms are tied. Squall threw a few of his extra belts at me. "Make sure he doesn't go anywhere." He gathered up the last of the lightsticks and swept out into the hall.

Zell hesitated at the door. "Something's not right," he offered.

"I know," I said. "Watch him. Watch yourself."

I got a sharp-toothed grin. "Always a pleasure to watch _him_, Baby!" Zell bounced out to join Squall.

As soon as they were gone I trussed Seifer up like a Yule turkey. Then I poured a potion over his head to wake him up.

* * *

_Seifer_

"Fuck," I said. I must have liked the sound of it, because I found myself repeating it a few more times. I tried to sit up and found I couldn't. "Is it Bondage Night again already?"

"You just stay where you are. I have a headache and the noise from shootin' you will just piss me off."

Sure, I get kicked in the bean by the Chocobo Kid and _Irvine_ has a headache? I spent a few moments considering the injustice of it all. And trying, subtly, to get away. No luck there and a quick inner scan told me I was spell free, too. Peachy. To cap my night off, maybe I'll have an aneurysm or something. All things considered, it sounded better than what probably really _was_ going to happen.

I looked around, hunting for options. Puke green light trickled in from the hall and with a little judicious wiggling, I could see Irvine crouched by the open door, Exeter across his knees.

"I don't know what the seven sandy hells is going on, Seifer, but if you have an explanation, I'd love to hear it."

Reluctantly, I admitted, "It got him. Irv, Zell is in danger. Get his ass back in here, away from Squall."

"It what? Seif, no offense, but you've been acting crazier than a cat at a catnip convention." He tipped his head, listening to Squall and Zell converse softly outside. Irvine pouted beautifully and grumbled something about some people having all the luck, which meant Squall was hitting on Zell or vice versa and neither was good news right now.

"It! The ghost! Hynedammit, it used me to transfer itself to Squall. It wants its sacrifice! It needs blood for power!" I hissed at Irvine, afraid of what would happen if Squall overheard and realized I was awake.

Irvine took the hint and lowered his voice, although his eyes kept straying once we heard the pop of a snap and a soft nervous chickewuss laugh drift in from the hall. . "Used you? How did it get you?" One thing I loved about Irvine, he may not believe you, but he was always willing to play along. Or around. Actually, that was most of what I loved about Irvine, that and those long legs.

"It's had me since I was 10 years old! I thought I had it under control, but when Ulti summoned me, I lost it and it went back here, to its dormant spot. I think its key is in the walls of that bathroom. When it got the kid to cut his wrists, that fed it enough so it could reach out and grab me again. Now it has _Squall_." I rolled to my back, the picture of defeat, and tried to get leverage to stretch the belts holding me enough to escape. That also put me in good position to see what had been distracting Irvine, namely, a mirror. I met his reflection's eyes, trying to convince him of the importance of what I had to say. "Think of it, Kinneas. It feeds on blood. Squall is the commander of _SeeD_. B-Garden is totally mobile. Do the math."

"Hyne… I hate this! Give me something I can shoot!" Irvine got to his feet but stumbled away from the wall when something solid hit it with a whump.

The mirror was angled so the Irvine could watch me and the boys in the hall at the same time. I squirmed over so I could better share the view, catching just the edge of Zell's arm as he gestured. The whump must have been Squall.

"Shit! That _hurt_, Squall! Shit! I'm bleeding! What's gotten into you?"

Squall's answer was to cast firaga, which Zell just barely dodged.

Irvine yelped and charged for the door, Exeter in hand.

"Kinneas! _No!_"

Irvine hesitated and I pressed my advantage. "What are you going to do? Shoot him? Untie me."

In the hallway, Squall cast Blizaga. Zell sucked damage and retaliated with Stop. That never works, Squall is junctioned to the max against status effects. I guess the Chickie just doesn't have my experience and expertise with attacking Our Fearless Leader.

Irvine made a frustrated noise and flattened against the wall. With his ass out of the doorway, we both had a clear view of what was going on out in the hall.

Barely stunned by the Stop spell, Squall stepped forward and cast Aero, blowing Zell back against the wall. His shoulder hit the lighting control panel and hands made from blue sparks reached out and grabbed him. Zell thrashed in a disturbingly familiar way. St.Elmo's fire licked and danced all over the Chickie and spread like a bad smell up the hall towards Squall, who just stood, his calculating cold eyes silver in the crackling light He was smiling again, that faint, blood smeared smile of satisfaction.

Quez can protect from electrical attacks, since it's her element. I guess that's why Zell decided to summon her.

"Oh, fuck, no," I moaned. Irvine glanced at me, anguish in his pansy colored eyes. He didn't know which one to shoot. I shook my head. "Cut me loose, Irvy." We had to get out of there before anguish became despair and brought Its attention back to us.

Warm yellow and green light flowed and formed into Quezacotl. She spread her flowery wings and the sparks reversed their flow, tumbling back like water towards her. With a flash, Quez and the electrical hands vanished.

Blinking away the afterglow of the flash and trying to peer into the darkness, I managed to confirm my worst fears.

Zell was gone.


	7. Seifer, Irvine, Seifer

For Brightspark, who's words of praise really lit a fire under my muse.

* * *

Revenant Chapter 7

Seifer, Irvine, Seifer

* * *

_Seifer_

Squall stood still a moment, letting his night vision return. He looked over to where Zell had been and shrugged a nonverbal 'whatever'. I wanted to choke him.

Irvine dropped to his knees beside me and started undoing the straps. At least he finally got off the fence.

"I'm trustin' you," he said, "because you seem marginally less crazy than Squall right now."

Nice to know I can still inspire confidence.

"Irv, this is the proctor's room. It has the hatch access to the lower levels."

He looked up at me, his eyes wild. "Seifer, tell me you aren't going to drop me down the duct to engineering."

"Once you are there, use the command override – I saw you get it from Squall when I did- to take the engines off line. That will buy us some time, and if we have to self-destruct, it will minimize the damage to Balamb."

"Self destruct?" He squeaked, but got his voice back under control. "It's not coming to that! …Is it?"

My hands were loose now. I flexed them and rubbed them together to get the circulation back while Irvine moved down to free my legs.

"After you get the engines powered down, evacuate the rest of the Garden. Squall got most of the kids out but there are still staff and anyone out on sick leave. Get everyone out of here, find Quis, and give her a full report."

"Saying what? Seifer and Squall went nuts, Zell is MIA and I decided to get the hells out of Deling?"

"Yeah, that should pretty much cover it." I stretched my legs for the first time in what felt like hours.

"Good, considering my choices of possible futures right now, a court-martial seems like the most fun." Irvine tossed aside the last of Squall's belts and looked sadly up at me.

I grabbed a handful of silky brown hair and pulled him close for a kiss. Irvine's hair isn't just brown; it's lighter and redder than Squall's. It's actually the exact color of a perfect bowl of chili. Thinking of food was making me hungry and Irvine melting against me was making me hungrier, but in a whole different fashion.

The flash of a Firaga and the sharp chill of a Blizaga from the hallway ended our clench in a hurry. Irvine winced at the screep of metal cutting metal. "What's he doing?" he whispered.

I pushed Irvine away, not an easy thing to do. "He's after Its key, that's embedded in the walls. If he gets it, he won't need the garden. Squall Leonhart can create plenty of blood and despair on his lonesome."

Irvine crawled over to the hatchway access and popped the lock like a pro. He took a deep breath and looked up at me. "Seifer, you can't fit in here. What are you going to do?"

I grinned and pulled Hyperion. "Distract our Fearless Leader, of course."

* * *

_Irvine_

I slithered down the dusty, dank and dark chute towards engineering. If I have to be in a close dark place, I want another warm body to rub against. Instead, I got weird tubes and aimless metal piping. The whole place looked like it was designed by that screensaver.

I tried not to think about Seifer or Squall or Hyne! Zell or the Garden going self-destruct. I concentrated instead on trying to remember if I knew a damn thing about the Shumite engines.

The answer was no. I wasn't even entirely sure I knew where the Hyne cursed things were. I knew spending all my mechanical classes giving blow jobs to the TA would come back to bite me someday. It already did, once, because he gave me such high marks Martine wanted to transfer me to Engineering where I would have gone completely stark screaming mad from boredom.

I found a cross bar with my head and cussed a bit. I sat back on my heels and let my ears stop ringing.

Was that a footstep I heard?

Hope and fear crowded and bumped elbows, each trying to get out. Fear won, there was no reason, no good reason, anyone would be down in the Engine room right now. No good for_ me _reason, at least.

I crouched down and tried to fold myself into the small space under some slimy contector thing. There was no room to pull Exeter and I hated to think what I'd hit and the damage I'd do if I did try to use her. Ok, weaponless, unjunctioned, lost… yeah, this had crappy mission stamped all over it.

Then the lights went out.

I thought it was damn dark before, but there were little hi! I'm operating correctly green lights flickering here and there and a few odd blue and red ones. Not really enough light to do anything but damn I missed them when they were gone.

Ok, Kinneas. You are not blind, you are just in a big dark room with no idea where you are going. A big dark room filled with all sorts of things to crash into and trip over. Big weird metally slimy sharp stabby things.

Was that a footstep?

It can't be a footstep because the son of a bitch would be stumbling around falling over shit just like you are, Kinneas. And the dark is not touching you. It's just there. Or better, it's not there. That's all dark is, lack of light. It can't touch, it can't smother, and there's no reason, no reason at all, for it to be getting hard to breathe.

That _was_ a footstep.

I held my breath and listened as long as I could. I didn't hear anything except what I supposed were normal creeks and pings and drips. It did help with the claustrophobia for a few seconds, until I starting thinking of the kinds of things I could be trapped down here with.

Something or someone scuffed along the metal flooring behind me.

I took another deep breath. I had to get some space. I scrambled forward and threw myself over a wide pipe, landing harder and lower down than I expected. Quiet wasn't an option, so I took a moment to say bad things about the pipe and whoever put it there and both their mommas.

Was that a high-pitched hysterical giggle? That wasn't me… was it? I wasted a few heart beats trying to decide which would be worse.

Stumbling forward, I found a large open area. That's just what I'd wanted, wasn't it? Something about being not as alone as I should be in the dark and in the open struck me as Not A Smart Idea. I felt around for a friendly shin barking pipe or and found a puddle of horrible, cold, sticky stuff. I jerked my hand back and sniffed, hoping it wasn't corrosive and that it wasn't going to eat my hand off.

Blood.

I staggered back and found a wall. I put my back to it and eased along, hoping to find a door out of this nightmare. My shoulder found, painfully, a panel of toggles and without stopping to consider the consequences; I turned and flipped those little darlings to the on position.

The emergency lights struggled on, weak and red.

Standing before me were two naked women. It looked like they had been pushed through a paper shredder.

One of them smiled at me.

* * *

_Seifer_

Squall was hacking away at the wall. If there had been even a glimmer of doubt that he was possessed, it was gone now. Squall might sacrifice Zell for the good of the mission but he'd never risk Lionheart the way he was.

Since I was spell free, I fell back on an older way to get Squall's attention. Taxi whistle.

"Hey, Puberty Boy. Most girls like it better if you just knock."

Ok, he's had lots of practice at ignoring me. And I've had lots of practice at getting his notice. Now was not the time to play nice.

I aimed Hyperion at Squall's lovely ass and pulled the trigger. He barely got Lionheart out of the wall in time to deflect the blast. Even so, he landed on his butt and there was a nice slice along his thigh. I hoped I'd get a chance to apologize for that scar later.

Squall cast Blizaga and I parried it. He's always been too slow at combat casting. I grinned at him. "Just like old times, eh, Leonhart?"

Then I rushed him.

We met in the ruined hallway, sliding on carpet scorched by fire, slicked by frost, and steeped in blood. Squall used to fight two handed, giving me the casting advantage, but that was before the war. He'd grown up some since then, and he was strong enough to go at me one handed. Fortunately, I learned never to underestimate Squall, so I was ready.

We fought for a while, blades sparking in the weird green light. It was the old give and take, a rhythm that came so easy it was almost relaxing.

Then a scream drifted up, muffled by distance.

Irvine.

Squall smiled and licked the blood off his teeth with a quick flick of his pointed pink tongue.

I brought Hyperion up and tried to twist the sword catcher to disarm Squall. He leaned into it and in a neat little move, wriggled away, nicking me and getting a shallow slice on his jacket in return. He was holding his hand like he was picking a spell, so I tried drawing off him to get some ammo back.

The monster had crowded back my own GF and disjunctioned him, so that didn't go as well as I would have liked. Squall did share what he had in his hand; not a spell but several of Rinoa's shooting stars. She tried to teach him a lot a things; I guess he only kept the lessons he cared about.

The stars hit and hurt like a bitch. Temporarily blinded, I slashed out just to keep Squall off me. True to form, he didn't do what I expected. Squall ducked under my guard and shot me point blank in the gut.

I hit the wall and Hyperion hit the floor. Squall was still there, too close, and he pressed himself up against me.

"I've missed this," he said, and kissed me hard. I braced myself up with my legs, trying to stay on my feet, holding my guts in and blessing Hyne that shock kept most of the pain away.

"Squall…" I have no idea what I was going to say.

"Can't have you getting away again." Squall scooped up Hyperion and hefted her. He hadn't gained enough strength on me to be able to wield her one handed, so Lionheart vanished into its hypersheath.

"Beautiful and deadly. Just like you. Just like _us_." Squall stepped back and drove Hyperion through my shoulder, pinning me like one of Raijin's bugs.

Dark waves that smelled like blood crashed over me. The last thing I saw was Squall, fishing something triumphantly out of the wall.


	8. Irvine, Zell

Many thanks to all my reviewers through-out this fic, which was supposed to be done and up for Hallowe'en. Thank you so much for sticking with me. There will be a yaoi filled epilogue that I may not be able to post here. I'll let you know once it's written.

Warnings: violence, horror (I hope), cursing, death and a teeny bit of comfort snuggling.

* * *

**rev·e·nant** (r v -n nt) _n._ 1) One that returns after a lengthy absence. 2) One who 

returns after death.

* * *

Revenant Chapter 8

* * *

_Irvine_

Well, they were dead and covered with blood but never let it be said that Irvine Kinneas couldn't handle two naked women smiling at him. Even if those smiles were a mite… hungry.

"Ladies!" I tried. "Fancy meeting you here." I leered and hoped I didn't look too much like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.

"Poor Pretty Boy," One said. Her voice bubbled like Norg's. Or someone's with terminal pneumonia.

"Not poor with the riches of femininity that just happened along…" Good fucking Hyne, Kinneas, the sweetened bullshit that comes out of your mouth would gag a chocobo botfly. Habit. Sheer habit and nothing else kept the syrup of my words flowing.

"Such a pretty boy." She was painted in blood and there were thumbprints on her eyelids, nail marks. "Play with us – all men fancy two ladies." She rubbed one hand over her lacerated breast. The flesh was cut and the skin opened like tiny mouths slobbering blood. "Don't you want to touch us?"

The other one moved behind her and looked at me while caressing the other girl. "Taste us… you know you want to," she bubbled from her cut windpipe.

I have never been gay. I just like sex. Suddenly, Gay was Good. Good good good, never touch another woman, I'll go celibate, never do anything as long as I didn't have to touch _those_ women. Please let a big strong man come and take all this away from me. A big, strong, _living_ man. Or, shit, a Chihuahua dog, anything, I'm not proud. Just make _them_ go the fuck away. Matron, she could…

"He's shy."

Great. While I'm fantasizing a savior, they got to either side of me, moving too fast, like a sped up camera. The smell was horrible. Blood. Old blood. And that _smell_ of rot, where you know if you look too close, you're going to see maggots; it was a special smell only they make with their soft, busy bodies.

The one with the shorter hair leaned in close and I fought not to vomit. Don't look don't look don't look you know her mouth is full of them don't fucking look…

I looked. There were no maggots, but she had a razorblade imbedded deep in her tongue.

"Kiss me, Cowboy." She gurgled. "Kiss me."

The other one stroked up my arm, leaving bloody trails. My vest parted at the shoulder seam and fell open. She coiled her self around my body, making little slices in me and my clothes. I felt exposed and naked when the last of my top fell away in tatters.

I felt cold hands suddenly tugging at my pants and that did it – no _way _were they touching the Center of Kinneasness, no fucking way. I stumbled back; Exeter was cold like ice in my hands. I could _not_ fire that weapon in the engine room, no matter how hysterical I got, not without being very sure of my target. The barrel looked inviting. One way to get away from them with their razorblade tipped fingers. How had I not noticed that before?

They were whispering empty words of love, parroting back to me all the things I'd told countless women and didn't mean. My heart was heavy with words I did mean to tell certain, special people; words I never had the courage to say aloud. All my love was a lie, why would anyone ever want me, love me?

I felt faint for a long moment, everything grayed out and I found myself with the barrel of my gun under my chin. I gathered up some will power and…

"Don't love you, will never love you, can't love someone like you," the voices purred.

… swung Exeter out and into the ritual kata that summoned Siren, the one lovely lady I knew would not fuck me over.

And Zell Dincht fell on me.

I was surprised but he wasn't. Zell rolled to his feet and did that three bounce step that meant it was ass kicking time.

"Lets Rock!" he crowed. He did a sweeping circle kick while twisting in the air, starting the kata for casting. The girls didn't seem particularly afraid – what c could hurt the dead?

I called Siren and she dove into place, gathering herself to silence those obscene, bitter, heart crushing whispers. Zell gathered himself and flung the magic, faster than I thought was humanly possible – he must have already had haste cast on himself when he popped out of …where ever the hells he came from.

I yelped "Zell! The engines!" thinking gods, what could he be casting that won't blow us to kingdom come? He packs lighting, fire, Demi…

Holy.

The Girls were lunging for him and the bright, clean spell hit them both and left a negative image of those razor taloned mutilated corpse hanging on my retinas. The screams faded, not as if cut off, but like someone had dropped both ghouls in a long, deep hole and they were falling away.

And then they were gone, just that fast.

Zell turned and beamed at me. "Thanks, Baby. I was stuck."

I pulled Zell into my arms and just held on a while, my face buried in his hair. He smelled like sunshine and salt water and the sharp tang of ozone. There was even a faint after scent of orchids, earthy and sweet. He smelled _alive _and he felt good, all smooth muscles and quivering energy. He hugged me back, a bit too tight, but even the loss of breath felt good.

"Not that I'm complaining, mind, but how in the Seven Sandy Hells did you survive… whatever the hells that was?" Now that I looked at him good, his earlobe was torn. It looked bitten, and there was dried blood down his neck and onto his shirt.

Zell flashed a delighted, sharp-toothed grin. "I ended up in GF space, Baby, with Quezacotal herself. It was awesome! Like this primal forest, all full of flowers and green growing things. And death, too, and decay, but not gross like here, more natural, normal. She's old, Quez is, old, and way powerful – they only manifest a teeny portion of themselves, here. And she likes me!" He bounced. "She liked that I studied the old languages, you know? She said we're all special, the Guardian Forces haven't found anyone they really liked in eons and now everyone's got a favorite."

"I thought you were _dead_ and it was just Quez inviting you back to her place?" I didn't mean to sound so outraged, I mean, I had no room to talk.

"No, that was Carlos." Zell looked sad.

"Carlos? Who the hells is _he_? The GF of blind dates?"

"No, no, Baby, listen. Carlos is the guy Seifer knew who hung himself. Quez summoned him and the Shumite so they could explain what was going on."

"Thank Hyne _someone_ knows," I grumbled. "Even if it's dead folk and GFs."

Zell rubbed my shoulders. "See, the Shumite worker who was vaporized had Iblis and-"

"Iblis?"

"That's It, Iblis. It's an evil GF. It feeds on suicide. Its big attack is 'despair' and it's a killer, according to Carlos and Quez." At my nod, Zell continued. "When he was vaporized, Iblis' key was trapped between the walls, literally, here in B-Garden and also metaphorically, between life and death with the Shumite. It held the Shumite guy here and that's how the ghost rumors started."

"Makes sense, I guess. Shumites are very powerful."

"Yeah. So along comes Carlos, and Iblis tries his damnedest to get him. He works best in dreams, so it's a good thing none of us slept there. Anyway, Carlos folded and basically sold his soul to Iblis, promising to commit suicide to feed him."

I shuddered. I'm not a deeply religious person, but… I shivered again and Zell hugged me.

"At the last minute, Carlos got some balls, maybe some help from the Shumite, who knows? He couldn't renege, but he left the note-"

"'Fuck it'", I quoted. Zell nodded, his crest bobbing like a rooster's comb.

"And he hung himself, see? No blood to feed Iblis. That really really pissed Iblis off and he used a lot of his energy to get the SeeD investigators to do him up proud."

"The girls." I waved my hand in the vague direction I'd last seen them.

"Right, and with that power and blood, he managed to leave his key and take over a person. He can't posses just anyone; it has to be someone who can channel a GF."

"Seifer." I shut my eyes. "Hyne, Zell, he told me he was only 10 years old at the time!"

"Yeah, but he was tough. Seifer was always tough and he'd never, ever, commit suicide. Carlos and the Shumite acted like a sort of poltergeist, trying to scare people away from the area, to keep Iblis trapped with Seifer. The best Iblis could hope for was to get into a nice bloody battle with Seif and skip to another body. That's a reason he was always so reckless, Iblis wanted _out_." Zell shook his head, admiring his one time adversary. "Iblis can't stray too far from his key. When Ultimecia took over Seifer, she booted Iblis out, and he had to zing back here. Carlos and the Shumite were waiting for him. He was too weak from fighting Seifer for years and this section was closed off by then, so Iblis was Ess-oh-ell. Until we started moving kids into the area again."

"We came along, it moved back into Seifer, and forced Seifer to pass it to Squall?" I stood up, feeling a little better. Getting pissed on Seifer and Squall's behalf helped, too.

"Yeah, I think maybe Seifer thought he could fight it again, but it had learned some tricks according to Carlos, like to disjunction Seifer's other GF's right away. And, of course, it had just fed – on little Bradley Butterfield."

"But it didn't finish him off. He's still alive."

Zell looked up at me, his eyes dark with worry. "If Iblis is loose, he'll want to finish his sacrifice off. Then he'll start demanding more and more blood."

I ran my hand through my hair. "You have any idea how to take the engines off line?"

"You betcha, Baby."

Zell was clearly the right man for the job, although once he lead me through the maze of pipes and conduits to the actual engine controls, I think I could have worked it out for myself. In true military fashion, there was a large, shiny, red, candy like button that was labeled "Do not push, will instigate emergency shut down of engines. Once protocols begin, engines must stay idle for minimum 48 hours."

I let him push the button.

* * *

_Zell_

We shut down the engines and then headed up to the Infirmary. I was still totally chuffed from my meeting with Quezacotal. I mean, come on, how many guys have a _goddess_ flirt with them? Not that it could go anywhere, her being a sort of flower bird thing and, me being, well, gay as hell.

Irvy was freaked. Ok, I definitely scored better in the blind date department, since his mystery dates were blood seeking dead SeeDs and mine was an immortal lightening elemental, but still…

I know the ghost girlies were creepy, but Irv was actually more weirded out by Squall and Seifer. I knew Squall was acting strange – he'd bitten the crap out of me, right? And Seifer wouldn't have hurt Squall like that if he'd been in his right mind. If Seifer wanted to hurt Squall he'd just punch his lights out or turn that vicious tongue of his loose. Not _rape_ him.

We burst into the Infirmary at a dead run. I think we startled the shit out of the medical aid gal, because she dropped her clipboard and papers went everywhere. Irvine the gentleman stooped to gather them up; I scanned for Kadowaki.

The Doc whipped around the curtain of one of the little cubicles like Ma on a butt beating tear. "Quiet! We have a very sick little boy in here!"

"You need to get him out of here, pronto," Irvine said.

"He's right, Doc," I confirmed. "You are hereby given the direct order from the ranking officer at Balamb Garden. Evac immediately." I out rank the doc, how freaky is that?

The little aid gasped and grabbed her papers back from Irvine, looking at him like he was sprouting malboro tentacles. I guess he did look a little wooly, all wild eyed and covered with razor thin scratches. Irv didn't even bother to smooze her, poor guy was still that shook up from his too close encounter with the not-so dead.

Kadowaki pushed her glasses up her nose. "Squall?"

"He's gone off the deep end," Irvine explained, "with not nearly enough water in the pool, if you get my drift."

I rolled my eyes. "Squall is currently unable to command. That is based on the observations of three senior ranking SeeDs." Namely, me, Irv, and Seifer. Who thought mutiny would be so easy? "How many patients do you have?"

"Here? Just one. I can't move him, Zell, er, Capt. Dincht. We weren't anticipating maneuvers or attacks and I'm deeply concerned about aberrations in his brain wave patterns."

"If we move him, he could die?"

Kadowaki nodded in answer to my question.

Irvine snorted. "Doc, if we _don't_ move him, he's certainly gunna die."

"Chye, go and get current vitals on Bradley." The little aid gal ran off, glad to get away from us, I think, even if she was only protected by a curtain. Kadowaki focused her eagle eye on me. "Now, what's wrong with Squall?"

"Nothing at all."

I spun around at the sound of Squall's voice. He sure didn't _look_ like there was nothing wrong. Squall looked like a ruby dragon had been using him as a chew toy. I'd seen Squall look a lot worse, though, during the war, and his stance was familiar…

I pushed Kadowaki down just as Squall cast Blizaga. The skitters of light behind me told me that Irv had cast Shell over Bradley and the aid. He took the hit and went down on one knee.

"Irvine," Squall said in his best field trainer voice, "is hampered by the fact that his best attack, the pulse ammo, will do ugly things in this oxygen rich environment. Zell is reluctant to inflict his bone breaking attacks. As you see-"

Irvine jerked me back and cast Protect about a millisecond too late. Thundaga shattered around us and the monitors on Bradley started screaming.

"- I have no such restrictions."

"Gloves are _off_, Baby!" I jumped out and landed a mach kick and a heel drop. Squall brought up Lionheart and nearly parried my parts off. He pressed his advantage and I hoped Irvine and the Doc were making good use of my soon to be suicidal attack. I caught the soothing green sparkles of a healing spell out of the corner of my eye; at least Kinneas wasn't going down. Yet.

It's not fun to parry Lionheart when Squall is in a mood, but my gloves don't have metal bits to them just for show. It's all about focus and balance anyway. And staying away from that wicked blade. Wicked _bloody_ blade and suddenly I was very worried about Seifer.

And there went my focus and even though I knew I had broken Squall's collarbone and at least one rib, he got Protect up and suddenly I was doing less than half the damage I'd been doing before. I crowded close, trying to get Squall caught between the wall and some germ killer machine of Kadowaki's. I didn't want him to have room to swing that gunblade at me one more time.

He didn't. Instead he cast Aero and blew my ass the full length of the Sick Bay. I hit the wall and saw stars and little chicabos. I know I left a Zell shape imprint on the bulkhead.

Irvine cast, Bio, I think, but it didn't do more than slightly slow Squall. He hit me with Demi and I was feeling even worse in a hurry.

I was trying to get my arms and legs to work together again but I couldn't take my eyes off Squall. He was advancing slowly, like a tiger sure of his kill. He hefted Lionheart and aimed but by some miracle Squall missed, placing a nice hole in Kadowaki's calendar that hung over my head.

Better it than me, Baby.

I cast Curaga on myself and willed it to work faster.

Squall was just standing there, looking surprised, shocked, even. Irvine tried Sleep on him, but it didn't stick. It seemed more like a distraction than anything.

When Squall slowly turned to look behind him, I saw why.

Seifer was there, leaning on Hyperion. Blood, black and bright in the surging, flickering lights, poured down one useless arm. He had something tied around his middle; it could have been his trench coat, but it was stained too red to tell. Somehow Seifer had managed to stab Squall in the back, but no way could he have had enough strength to do much damage.

Seifer smirked at Squall. "Forget something?"

"Fuck you," Squall snarled. "You are past tense. No one can stop me; the war proved that."

I scrambled to my feet. My back wasn't broken, or the Curaga was doing its thing. Either way, feeling was coming back to my hands and feet and with the pins and needles and cramps, it was a true mixed blessing.

It looked like Kadowaki and the aid were trying to shield Bradley and Irvine was in position to cover them. He held a healing spell of some sort and seemed to be trying to creep closer to the fight. Oh, of course, Seifer was out of his range.

"Ah, I was goin' easy on ya back then." Seifer managed to make his words sound lazy, but even I could tell he was having trouble staying on his feet or even breathing. "Since you'd just hit puberty and all."

Squall rushed Seifer, and Seifer let loose his limit break. The aid screamed as Squall was engulfed in Firaga and then roar of the flames faded with the echo of gunshot. It wasn't enough to take Squall out, but it hurt him, bad. Squall rolled to feet, the golden glow of _his_ limit break beginning to coalesce.

Squall didn't need Renzokuken to finish Seifer off and we all knew it. Irvine crawled forward, still holding the healing spell. By the way Irv was moving, it would have been better used on his own broken leg. A quick, vicious thrust of Lionheart and Seifer was beyond any cures Irvine might have in hand, anyway.

Irvine the nut cast the cure on _Squall_. I thought Iblis had gotten him until I saw the glow fade from around our commander. Smart move, Baby, Renzokuken is not a pretty thing to be on the receiving side of.

It was my turn, ready or not, and I gathered my forces and cast aura on myself. I flew at Squall feet first, dolphin blow, then meteor strike, then booya. I bounced back, grinning, as Squall did what he always did when on the ropes, summoned.

See, I knew Shiva wouldn't come. Quez told me no way would they cooperate with Iblis, and Shiva was tough enough to keep Squall's less affectionate GF's at bay.

Irv hit me with a cure, Hyne bless him. We both waited, healing and just catching our breaths, as Squall struggled with Guardian Forces who refused to obey.

Finally, he got to his last one.

"Iblis!"

Yeah, take that you nasty old blood-drinking bastard. No one commands GF's like Squall. If he got it to summon, maybe Irv and I could hurt it enough to make it let go.

Squall struggled with the summons and Irv hit me with another cure. Finally, Iblis himself appeared and Squall faded to nullspace.

Iblis was a handsome androgynous youth with huge black feathered wings. He did look awfully familiar…the arrogance, the cold aloof gaze – like Seifer and Squall, both, and neither. He would have been painfully beautiful but the blood stained mouth and hands sort of detracted from the over all affect.

Irv cast Holy, with less effect than I'd really expected. I followed with circle kick and chop to the upper thigh, a bone-breaking move on a human.

Iblis seemed slow and slightly distracted. Maybe it had never been summoned into combat before. Irvine had time to get a careful shot in, one of his lesser ammos but still dealing some hefty damage. I went in with a snap kick punch combo and was starting to feel a little hopeful.

Then Iblis smiled, showing a hint of bloodstained teeth, and suddenly, that all changed. A wave of black misery washed over me, sticking like old blood. It was all futile, insane, and I was spending my life soaking in blood and hurting people. I had sinned against my fellow humans and an eternity of pain was a small price-

Squall appeared in a blast of cold air. He'd broken free from Iblis! Now it was three against one and things were definitely looking up. We were old hands at defeating errant GF's, after all.

Given our battered state, I hedged my bets a little and cast triple.

Then I cast aura.

When the smoke and lights cleared away, all that was left of Iblis was a funky dark heart shaped rock with a flickering red light inside. I did the victory dance, since Squall and Irvine were both on their asses.

By the noises from the monitors, Kadowaki and her aid were having their hands full with Bradley. Irv and I convened on Squall. He was a mess, Hyne, we all were.

"Seifer?" Squall asked.

"I have Life," Irvine said, and he hitched himself over a little to get into range. He cast, but nothing happened.

We had blown a couple lights and circuits in the Infirmary during the fight, and in the sparks I saw, as if through several layers of smoke and heat and ripply ice, Carlos and the Shumite shaking their heads.

Irvine inched closer to Seifer, like that would help, and cast again. Seifer didn't move. He didn't breathe. I held Squall in my arms and pretended the tears trickling down his face were all mine. Squall reached out to Irvine and passed him some Phoenix Down.

Irvine tried again, the pinkish light of the resurrection spell hiding the blood a little. This time I saw Carlos and the Shumite clearly, they indicated they were moving on, but still hesitated. With a little sob, Irvine threw the Phoenix Down. If that doesn't work, it's all over, Baby.

Carlos smiled at me and gave me thumbs up. "It's working!" I said, but Squall didn't look like he was even willing to hope at that point.

Or maybe he was looking at the light flickering in the heart of the stone that was Iblis.

Carlos and the Shumite faded away and in the pink glitters, I saw a transparent, glassy Seifer made of bright redgold light coming through the weird hazy curtain of non-existence. He gently nudged a similarly hazy spirit shape of a scred but hopeful looking kid of about 12 towards the bed where Kadowaki was doing all sorts of life saving things. Bradley Butterfield slipped back into his body and the screaming monitors settled down.

I should have known – didn't I already say it? Seifer would never give up.

Seifer hovered reluctantly over his battered mortal shell, obviously disgusted with the mess that was what was left of him, like it was a dogshit encrusted shoe he was debating throwing away instead of putting back on. But when he saw us all crying, Seifer rolled his eyes, shook his head and merged.

"Wusses," he wheezed, and passed out.


	9. Epilogue: Seifer

I've forgotten the disclaimer on about half these chapters, I noticed. You knew the characters weren't mine, right? And no one here is getting any money?

That out of the way, allow me to thank the lovely reviewers who warmed my heart and fed my ego: Pixie518 and Xineko for their help writing this; Darksquall for her enthusiasm; Brightspark for getting scared; KNW for not pulling punches; Hopemia who is the sweetest fangirl in the world; Chrissy Almasy who stayed with me from the beginning but who has no email so I can't thank her privately; Verdanii who made my day by calling me 'Chickie' even though I'm old enough to be her mother; Fliss, who laughs at my jokes; Mata and Harlequin1 who not only didn't mind but also seemed to like my cliffhangers; Hikari Heijin and Dead Like You for taking the time to review, and ZerdaFirestorm for agreeing to wait 3 years to read my other fics. Thank you all so much. Many smoochies to the real Acid Rain, who wrote all the really scary bits.

This is the heavily censored version. Still contains yaoi, though.

* * *

Epilogue

* * *

_Seifer_

Bradley Butterfield made a complete recovery. Kadowaki sent him home with his folks, anyway, and it's still up in the air if he's coming back.

Iblis won't be returning. As a personal favor to Squall, Laguna Loire tucked a certain wizened black heart into the works of a new weather satellite. Iblis is now in high orbit, well out of range of anything that could conceivably bleed for him. I would have done the victory dance, but being gut shot made it a bit rough.

Kadowaki had the four of us evaced out, since we'd made a mess of her nice Infirmary. Things are a little blurry after that, but it seems there are a lot of useless parts just taking up space in a man's gut system, like an appendix and a gall bladder, so it worked out all right.

Every time I woke up in the hospital, someone was warming the uncomfortable looking chair by my bed. Zell was there a lot, restlessly drawing, trying to capture the images of Quezacotl's realm and not go stir crazy. Irvine, too, once the greenstick breaks in both his legs set, and the girls and once even Mr. President himself. Squall when they'd let him out of bed, which wasn't often, as he was pretty messed up, too. Made a guy feel all warm and fuzzy to have so many people fretting and fussing. Ok, that was the drugs.

We all earned 30 days R & R and repaired to one of Loire's Presidential Retreats. He offered his seaside joint, but Zell pointed out that was like vacationing at Ma's without the cookies, so instead we ended up in the mountains near a river full of, you guessed it, fish. Funny how things come full circle.

Zell took Loire's advice and visited the little Artist's Village down the hill. Soon he had taken over the workshop out in back of the cabin and was creating a stained glass image of Quez. Loire took one look at the partially completed project and commissioned Zell to do 6 more.

I was supposed to stay in bed the whole month, but damned if I was serving time alone. Squall was curled beside me, naked and sulking because Irvine had caught him drooping and sent him up to me for a nap. I could hear our resident mother hen limping around the kitchen, singing and cooking up something that smelled terrific. I hoped I'd actually be allowed to eat some this time, instead of that baby food crap they'd been feeding me. You want to know why babies cry all the time? Try tasting that shit.

Squall huffed and rolled over. He'd been in a mood these last few days. I smoothed down his chocolate colored hair and said, "Talk to me."

"I hurt you," he whispered after a while. "I _killed_ you."

"So? It wasn't you, it was Iblis. I've hurt you plenty of times."

He went silent, thinking it over. "Every time you hurt me… you were possessed by something evil: Iblis or Ultimecia."

Not sure what he was getting at, I said, "Yeah, and so were you, so if you aren't pissed at me, why wouldn't I forgive you?"

"Not every time." Squall traced the scar on my face with his fingertips.

I resisted the urge to sigh and roll my eyes. So that's what the angst was all about. I'm the first to admit I don't really have a firm grasp on the concept of guilt, but I knew it and Squall went way back. And who knows what poisoned thoughts Iblis had started in Squall's murky mind?

"One lucky shot! You got under my guard. _Once_."

"I'm sorry."

"Make it up to me." I smirked at Squall's startled look. "Blow job."

Squall arched an eyebrow. "Blow job?"

"Sure, you want to apologize and make me feel better, don't you? Oral sex is the perfect apology. Think about it, doesn't getting a little head always cheer _you _up? Have I ever complained about a blow job?"

Silver eyes glinted with amusement. "Not about _receiving_ one, no."

"There you have it. Get to work." I grinned at him.

He settled between my legs. "Are you even cleared for sex, Seif? I don't want to hurt you." The 'again' was left unspoken.

I groaned. "I've been in bed with one or the other of you guys for over two weeks and haven't gotten laid _yet_. Have some pity, Leonhart."

Squall mmmmed. Then he kept humming, a nice little technique that can make a lesser man beg in seconds. I lasted about a full minute.

Squall cleaned up and snuggled under my arm, his head on my chest. I toyed with his hair and thought that life could not get better than this.

"Wake up, Boys," Irvine said cheerfully. He was standing at the foot of the bed, wearing nothing but a small gingham apron and carrying a tray of truly delicious smelling food. "Supper time!"

Zell appeared in the doorway behind Irv. He was in his naughty nursie outfit, which consisted of a nurse's cap and microscopic white shorts decorated with a red cross. Zell held up a large sponge. "And after that, bath time!"

Okay, life could get a _little_ better. Always room for improvement, I say.

_Finis_


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